Winter is coming to Indianapolis and it’s time to talk about what’s going on in this great city. November brings quite a few great performances to Indianapolis Downtown stages! Along with all these things that Indianapolis offers, there’s always some sort of event or another going on in the fantastic city. It is one of the great cities located in the Midwest. Like many other bigger cities across the United States, it has many things to offer. Cassandra Wilson springs to mind.

Music & Art Events in Indianapolis

Indianapolis City Ballet is going to be having one of the most-anticipated entertainment performances every year but they are also going to be having an after-party with cocktails, live music, dancing and dinner options. They are going to have some awesome dancers and even a few from New York City Ballet. It’s not free but well worth the price. Tickets going from $30-$100 based upon seat and the after party options.

A tribute to Prince by the Indianapolis Orchestra! Just months after the music icon’s unexpected death, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will present a tribute concert. The ISO will be among the first symphonies to present The Music of Prince concert. Seriously, it’s going to be amazing especially if you are a prince Fan! I heard the the official piano moving partner of the ISO that are a local piano moving company in Indianapolis, Piano Movers HQ is giving away tickets as they are major prince fans. Seriously, check out it if you a Prince fan and if you want to see the amazing ISO do a tribute to him!

Free Stuff To Do in Indianapolis

Browse the Indianapolis City Market, open Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. Walk around the Summer Farmers’ Market from May – October on Wednesdays and the Indy Winter Farmers’ Market from November – April on Saturdays. You will be able to find some organic and hippie food for all those hipsters. Plus I heard they have some awesome free music on occasion when it’s not too cold out.

Go Visit some awesome libraries. Specifically go visit the beautiful Central Library and read a damn book. The Central Library provides reading lists, an events schedule and even homework help. Seriously, it is one of the best places to go and get lost in the aisles of books and it’s also warm. The Indiana State Library is also open to the public for a variety of needs including but not limited to: genealogy research, Indiana history, preservation, rare books and manuscripts, reference and government services, talking books and Braille library, as well as the state data center. Take a tour of the Indiana State Library. Tours include Architecture Tour, “Pursuit of Pride” Children’s Tour and a Researcher’s Tour. If you are nerd like me, you need to go check this place out.

Whether grasped at the moment they told or merely in perception, almost everyone would tell a word, phrase or even a sentence which attests the last piece he or she ever says while still living on earth.

Whether realized at the time they are said or only in hindsight, nearly everyone will express a word, phrase or sentence that proves the last thing he or she ever says while alive. At times deeper, sometimes every day, here you’d find the collection of the world’s well-known artists’ last words spoken.

Author’s Footnote: For the aims of this article, “artist” means someone who showed his or her artistic thoughts and visions through painting or sculpture.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875
A French PainterI hope with all my heart there will be painting in heaven.

Salvador Dali, 1904-1989
A Spanish PainterWhere is my clock?

Dali’s last words conjure the representation of one of his most notable masterpiece, The Persistence of Memory, which presented melting pocket watches.

Controversy spreads both the distressed artist’s final words and the reason of his death. A letter which his brother Theo, who was at Van Gogh’s side when he died, wrote implies his last words were, “I would like to go like this,” which the artist said approximately thirty minutes before he passed away. A second letter written again by his brother, few days later, however, revealed that Van Gogh said, “La tristesse durera toujours” (The sadness will last forever) before he passed away “a few minutes later.” Moreover, there was another letter, this time was written by Van Gogh’s friend, Emile Bernard, says that the artist, with “whole lucidity,” stanched suicide by firing himself using a revolver on the 27th of July 1890. The authors of Van Gogh’s biography, A Life, publicized in the year 2011, however, hypothesize that the artist passed away from an unintentional gunfire at the hands of two local boys.

Michelangelo, 1475-1564
An Italian Painter, Sculptor & ArchitectI give my soul to God, my body to the earth and my worldly possessions to my nearest of kin, charging them to remember the sufferings of Jesus Christ.

Grandma Moses [Anna Marie Robertson Moses], 1860-1961
An American PainterYou take me back to Eagle Bridge and you’ll get back your stethoscope.

Gradma Moses lived in Eagle Bridge, New York, and had spoken these last words to her doctor at the healthcare center where she passed away. The healthcare facility was located in Hoosick Falls, New York, approximately 10 kilometers (6 mi) away from her house.

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
A Spanish PainterDrink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more.

The 2014 National Theatre Company Grants were just announced by the American Theatre Wing. The recipients are:

The TEAM in Brooklyn, New York

The House Theatre of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois

Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles, California

Red Bull Theater in New York, NY

PlayGround in San Francisco, California

Keen Company in New York, New York

Forum Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland

Ars Nova in New York, New York

Williamston Theatre in Williamston, Michigan

Theatre B in Fargo, North Dakota

Theater Wit in Chicago, Illinois

Amphibian Stage Productions (Fort Worth, Texas)The grants for the 2014 cycle will allocate $12,000 each for overall operational assistance to the companies mentioned above which have been operating between 5 to 15 years. They have proven a distinguishing mission, cultured an audience, and cultivated a community of artists that reinforce and exhibit the excellence, variety, and enthusiasm of American theatre.

The success of this year’s American Theatre Wing Gala paved the way for an increased subsidy for these grants. More than $750,000 was raised on the 15th of September 2014 and has bested all former records.

The President of the American Theatre Wing, Heather Hitchens, had also mentioned that they were proud to bring benefits to twelve theatre companies this year, considering larger grant allocations. These firms have demonstrated themselves vibrant to their respective societies. We are confident that they’ll also allocate this funding to profitable use and pursue to do excellent job.

Theatre Company Grants Program

Through the Theatre Company Grants Program of the American Theatre Wing, its not-for-profit theatres dedication is made highly proven. During the year 2010, the important change in the way The Wing provides grants had happened and was no longer restricted to New York City companies. Consequently, it has resulted to a very extensive review managed by the organization’s Board of Trustees. The total ATW grants already allocated had already reached around $3 Million over the past 55 years.

ATW is devoted to progressing artistic quality and cherishing theatre’s next generation on stage, behind the scenes and in the audience. For almost a century, ATW has continued this mission with programs which extent the country to capitalize in the development and fruition of American Theatre. It’s always traditional for ATW to encourage the members of the theatre community to share their offstage time and ability straight with the big and truly crowded theatre audience – whether it’s singing for the crowds in the Stage Door Canteen of the year 1940s or sharing their testimonies on a podcast today.

As the authors of The Tony Awards, the American Theatre Wing has established principal platform for the acknowledgment of theatrical attainment on Broadway. ATW has also become the new home of the OBIES, Off-Off and Off Broadway’s utmost honor in cooperation with The Village Voice. Through the SpingboardNYC and Theatre Intern Network Programs, the Wing’s span also extends beyond New York City to develop the next generation of theatre artists and incubate groundbreaking theatre across the country – it’s further through the National Theatre Company Grants. The American Theatre Wing also promotes the American theatre song through the Jonathan Larson Grants. It also illuminates the artistic process through the “Working in the Theatre” program and media archive.

Posted in Awards, My Blog, Theatre Grants | Comments Off on The American Theatre Wing (ATW) Broadcasts 2014 Recipients of the Theatre Company Grant

Our modern world even exists with well-known artists who are still alive today. Some of them might be known to you but the majority may not. But they are living together with us, and they contribute success to our contemporary arts.

Gerhard Richter (German Painter)

In 1932, Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden, Germany and was widely known for his extensive variety of painting genera and methods. He perfectly combines two different art styles as he crafts ideas through squeegee and rhetorical depictions that look photographic. His worldwide popularity and success are believed to be due to his mastery of ambiguity.

He became the top-selling living artist after selling one of his paintings, Abstraktes Bild, to Eric Clapton at a tremendous record price of $34 Million at Sotheby’s.

The biggest factor which highly contributes to his popularity with American audiences was when he had a 40-year retrospective in the US from 2002 to 2003. It’s 40 Years of Painting debuted at The Museum of Modern Art, and trekked to other prominent galleries like The Art Institute of Chicago; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

In the US, his artwork is embodied by the influential Marian Goodman Gallery in NY.

Yayoi Kusama (Japanese Installation Artist)

Yayoi Kusama was born on 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano – central Japan. She’s an artist and a writer as well. She’s well popular for her room-sized installations enclosed with blotches; phallus crusted fixtures pieces and essential items, white on white portraits, and for her mirrored infinity cases.

During the late year 1980s, she also lived in New York City and her theatrical events and outrageous enactments fashioned with stark-naked accomplices frequently made the headlines of the local newspapers. It made her prominent in New York’s art scene like Andy Warhol.

She became close friends with artists Georgia O’Keefe and Joseph Cornell while at her stay in the US.

She slithered to obscurity after getting back in Japan during the late 1970s. Nevertheless, at the end of the 1990s, a reappearance of her artworks was once incited again which speedily acquired worldwide fame.

It was November 2014 when one of her portraits was sold for $6.2 million at public auction. Since then, her artwork becomes highly demanded and is still going strong until now, with limited throughput.

Damien Hirst (British Conceptual Artist)

Damien Hirst was born in Leeds, England and first acquired acknowledgment as being a significant character in the YBAs, Young British Artists. At Goldsmiths, University of London, he studied his art profession and luckily received the Turner Prize in 1995.

His masterpiece is sturdily themed, regularly musing on metaphysical disputes like mortality. His most notable piece is his 1991 installation entitled “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” in which a 14-ft (4.3 m) tiger shark drifts in a cistern of formaldehyde.

Hirst, together with his staff of assistant artists craft a huge variation of artwork: spin portraits, well-preserved wildlife in vitrines, polychrome statuettes, sketches, canvases, and installations. Aside from being an artist, he even curates exhibitions and deals with other art projects. His professional graft and personal life frequently produce headlines in the British newspapers.

Takeshi Murakami (Japanese Pop Artist)

Tokyo, Japan is the homeland of Takashi Murakami. He’s known for conjoining both high and low art, commercialism mingled with aestheticism, and making manga-inspired paintings, statuettes, and installations. He has become one of the top international best-selling artists.

He’s a multi – skilled personality: conceptual artist, fashion designer, author, speaker, intelligent business person and company holder. His Louis Vuitton-designed handbags were famous in the fashion style world, whereas his books are tremendously known with the design throng.

His controversial Versailles installation in the year 2010 suffered from some condemnation but also received some admiration.

How Do You Sum Up Five Years?

We ate like men and we cried like women.

That seemed to be the running joke of the weekend in Hazlehurst, GA. Two guys set out to watch the end of a series together and ended up blubbering like little kids with skinned knees. I had decided a while back that it was fitting that Steve Glosson and myself watch the end of this show together, since it had meant so much to us both together and separately for ten years. So, that’s just what we did. A couple of friends tagged along and we made the 8 hour drive from Tupelo, MS to Steve’s house in preparation for the final episode of Smallville, and ultimately the end of House of El Podcast.

It was an unforgettable trip. One of laughs and equal amounts of tears. It was emotional to watch the show close out and subsequently, lose our little show in the process. We worked hard on our final episode, which is being edited now and will be released in a few days – but somehow that didn’t seem fitting enough to say our thanks as much as it did our goodbyes.

So how do I sum up five years? How do I say thanks to the hundreds of folks that have made this show happen, and the hundreds of thousands that have listened week in and week out? I can’t. There’s too many to name. Too many experiences to comment on. Too many things to be thankful for. Our credits in 175 will list a large part of the people who have made this show what it was in the last five years, but there are some who I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to thank in our final moments.

Tucker Colburn and Graham Hancock – Two of my oldest and most loyal friends. Thank you for believing in something that sounded stupid five years ago, and still sounds stupid today. Thanks for putting up with me, my wishes for the show, and always having the attitude of seeing it through to make it as fun as possible. Thanks Houston Longino and Will Cooper for shouldering some of the responsibility for a while, and laying the groundwork of what this show would ultimately end up being five years later.

Thank you to people who have been there from the beginning. Who have always given of themselves and volunteered their time to increase awareness and have a good time. Thanks Kim Jordan for always being a great friend and source of support and advice in our years of friendship, and your passion to want this small effort to succeed from the beginning. Thanks Brian Moseley for always being eager to serve and put forth your ideas and humor (and thanks to you and Troy for putting up with mine and Steve’s antics this weekend).

Thanks to people who we never really said enough thanks to like Allie Osterloh Michael Bailey, and Stuart Baldwyn (and many, many, many others) who were always happy to devote their time and talents to Starkville’s House of El. To guests like Brian Austin Green, Cassidy Freeman, Bryan Q. Miller, Al Septien, Turi Meyer, Justin Hartley, John Schneider, Alaina Huffman, Alan Ritchson, and too many others to name.

Thanks Susan Kesser and Suzanne Gomez and Marc Klein for always being in our corner.

Thanks to Robin Burdge for your humor, your good spirits, and for always wanting to do whatever you could for SHoE. Thanks to Brie for letting you be as available as you were for us, Robin. Thank you to Damian Holbrook for joining our project, after already being a full time journalist who probably didn’t want to talk TV anymore at the end of his day, but still always would and had a fun time doing it.

Thank you Joe Hummrich for your loyalty. Thanks to Liz for letting you come out and play. Thanks for your friendship. Your good heart. Your giving of your time. For always having my back, and for being a lifelong friend – even though I’ve only known you a short time.

Thank you Steve Glosson. Thanks for being my best friend. For laughing with me. For being my reality. For telling me what was smart and what was dumb. For keeping me grounded. For lifting my spirits. For burning yourself out on these shows, for finding yourself, and for coming back together for the end. Thanks for always being there for me and thanks for letting me be half a good a friend as you are to me. Thanks for being a part of House of El Podcast. Thanks for letting me be a part of Geek Out Loud. Thanks for never letting me settle and always making me try harder to do what I want to do in life. Thanks for making House of El Podcast what it was and what it ended on. Thanks for saving it, more than once. Thanks for bringing the funny and making the people keep coming back for more. Thank you for your laugh. It saves lives.

Thank you to my family and friends and coworkers who put up with this crap for years and are probably more than happy it’s over with.

Thank you listeners. Thank you for loyalty. Thank you for support. Thank you for five years of downloads. Tweets. Emails. Ideas. Laughs. Complaints. Rants. And Love. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Thank you for loving Smallville with us. Thank you for taking the time to care. Thank you for recognizing we did this for free. For fun. For you.

Thanks for the videos and the emails and the tweets leading up to and following the finale – we’ll never be able to use all of the hundreds of them, but I wanted to share a few I saw here now.